


blue pill/red pill

by nickofhearts



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 00:22:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12593884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickofhearts/pseuds/nickofhearts
Summary: Noct loses everything at Altissia, including his memories. Good thing Ardyn's there to fill in the blanks.





	blue pill/red pill

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamingcicadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingcicadas/gifts).



> So my takeaway from the _Episode Ignis_ trailer was that Ardyn was considering just stealing Noct away with him in Altissia? Adorably hurt vulnerable unable to defend himself Noct?  >:3

Noct groggily blinked his eyes open. Where...was he? _Who_ was he? He knew he was Noct, but every other detail of his existence, from where he lived to what his job was, remained a stubborn blank, like he was clawing at some glass surface that allowed no purchase. The more Noct tried to remember, the more his head ached painfully.

He rubbed at his eyes and then looked around instead.

He was...in some kind of clinic? There was a strangely dressed man with red hair sitting not too far away from Noct, tapping on a clipboard with his pen. Was this the doctor?

"E-excuse me, sir?" Noct asked, coughing a little. "Could you tell me where I am?"

The man looked up at him, surprised. He moved forward and then settled a hand against Noct's forehead, as if checking his temperature. Was that strange behavior for a doctor? Noct couldn't _remember._ It felt nice, in any case, and Noct sighed and leaned into it.

"Hmmm," the man murmured. "You may have hit your head harder than I believed, Noct."

He chuckled lightly before leaning back again. Noct was almost sorry for the loss of contact. Had he—been lonely before? he wondered of himself, then shook the thought off. Either the memories would come back or they wouldn't, but in the meantime here was someone that _knew_ him.

"You call me Ardyn," Ardyn told him with a slight smile, "though I am also known as the Imperial Chancellor."

Noct's eyes widened. He was—on a first name basis with the _Imperial Chancellor?_

"And you, dear Noctis, are the one hundred and fourteenth prince—nay, _King,_ of Lucis," Ardyn finished with a dramatic little flourish of his arm.

"I-I am?" Noct asked with startled disbelief.

Ardyn being a Chancellor didn't seem so far out of the realm of possibility. Now that Noct was looking, he could see he carried himself with an air of noblity, and his clothing was definitely finely made, if somewhat eccentric in design. Noct being a king though—that had to be some kind of a joke, didn't it? Though he also supposed it wouldn't make much sense for the _Imperial Chancellor_ to be bothering himself with some nobody's physical well-being.

"What—um, what happened?" Noct wondered. He felt like he'd been beaten all over with sticks, the pounding in his head echoed in every inch of his body.

Ardyn steepled his fingers and let out a deep sigh. "Ah, how to put this delicately." He reached forward and took Noct's hand in his own, a gesture of comfort as he laid out the bare facts of Noct's current circumstance. "Your fiancé has been murdered and your throne toppled. Your father sought a treaty of peace with our illustrious nation, but the moment before it could be signed, rebels within his closest guard attacked and claimed his life. The great city of Insomnia burned, and it was all that could be done to secure your person from the insurgent threat." Ardyn's thumb brushed over Noct's knuckles while he spoke, as if to soften the blow of his words. "It _has_ been a trying time for your fair nation, your majesty. I lament that there was not more that could be done to preserve it from those that would see it fallen."

"Oh," Noct blinked. It all sounded so unreal. He'd barely even processed that he was somehow a king, and Ardyn was saying it'd all been stolen from him? His father, his fiancé, and his throne. Noct had no idea how to feel.

"Perhaps I should not have burdened you so all at once," Ardyn declared at Noct's frozen lack of response. He made as if to move away, but Noct held tight to his hand.

"No, it's—good that I know," Noct assured him. "It's just—I don't remember any of that." It sounded even more unbelievable than before, and it still didn't explain exactly why Ardyn himself seemed so concerned with Noct's well-being. If he truly had lost everything, Ardyn had no reason to pay him such regard, did he? Unless—Noct blushed and immediately dropped Ardyn's hand.

Ardyn didn't seem offended. He reached out again, holding the palm of his hand to Noct's forehead for a long moment before he stood, preparing to take his leave of Noct at last. "You are well on your way to recovery, I believe, but it may be best for you to rest awhile, Noctis. You _were_ almost drowned."

Noct nodded quickly, regretting it immediately when the motion made his vision swim. He settled back into the bed with a sigh. Rest he could do. Maybe his memories would even have returned when he woke up again, and things could stop being so awkward. Noct drifted into sleep almost as soon as his eyes closed, dreaming of nothing at all.

-

Noct felt a lot better when he woke up again, though his memories were still frustratingly out of reach. He huffed in annoyance as he got himself out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower, washing away who knew how many days of sweat while he'd been languishing away in bed.

He stepped out to find a set of clothes arranged neatly on the bed for him. Was this—just how royalty lived? Noct shrugged and put them on.

It was almost as many layers as Ardyn had been wearing, and Noct had to amend his prior thoughts of Ardyn dressing eccentrically. It looked like this was just the _fashion_ in Niflheim? It wasn't very comfortable, but it did look rather handsome on him, which Noct supposed was the more important fact. He couldn't remember being a prince or a king, but _already_ found it tedious as hell.

-

Noct was poking around the room wondering if he should wait for someone to look in on him—his heartbeat _not_ picking up when he thought of Ardyn himself returning, Imperial Chancellors had to have _loads_ to do, and Ardyn had given Noct so much of his time already?—or if he should go searching for someone to let them know he was up and feeling loads better and er, did they have any idea of what he should be doing?

He had just decided to venture forth into the unknown when the door swung open and a sour-faced man in completely _white_ armour strolled in. That—had to be unbelievably hard to keep clean, didn't it?

Noct blinked at him. "Um, hi?"

The man made a stiff bow. "I am Ravus Nox Fleuret, High Commander of the Empire's forces, and formerly Prince of Tenebrae. The Chancellor tells me your memories were lost as a result of the events at Altissia."

Noct nodded slowly, trying to work through all the titles Ravus had just thrown at him.

Ravus waited a moment before clearing his throat. "It was my sister that—you were meant to marry."

"Oh!" Noct bit his lip, remembering what Ardyn had said about his fiancé. "I'm really sorry about the princess." He fumbled awkwardly for something to say that wasn't just, "I'm also sorry but I don't remember you???"

"We weren't close," Ravus cut him off like he could read Noct's mind.

"Right," Noct agreed. He fidgeted nervously as Ravus eyed him like he didn't really _believe_ that Noct had lost all his memories. "Um—did Ardyn say anything about what I should be doing?"

"Yes," Ravus answered, and then proceeded to let silence fill the room.

"So, uh—"

"He asked that you be brought to him immediately," Ravus finally answered. He was watching Noct closely as he said it, like he was expecting Noct to give himself up at the words.

"Should we—go, then?" Noct wondered. He tried not to look overly excited about seeing Ardyn again, but of the two people he'd now met, Ardyn was definitely the one he'd rather be spending time with. Not because—but just—Ravus was really _offputting,_ and Noct had no way of knowing if that was just how he was, or if he hadn't wanted his sister to marry Noct, or if he blamed Noct for the tragedy of her death, or some combination of all of the above. Noct shuffled quickly behind him as Ravus turned and led the way.

They walked in silence, but Ravus paused before knocking on the door that was their destination. He spoke in a low tone: "The Imperial Chancellor is a man of _many_ faces, your majesty. Do not be taken in by any one of them."

Noct blinked at the mysterious—and somewhat threatening?—advice. "Thanks, uh, High Commander."

Ravus eyed him one last time like he was just waiting for Noct to show his true hand, and seemed somewhat disappointed when Noct just shrugged at him in reply. He really _didn't_ remember, and he had no idea what Ravus was expecting.

"His majesty, Noctis Lucis Caelum," Ravus announced him, after knocking and pushing the door open.

Noct grinned at the scene of Ardyn sat at a desk overflowing with paperwork. He'd only seen him once—that he could remember—but already, Ardyn was becoming a familiar sight. Ardyn would tell him what to do, and everything would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> This...needs another fifty thousand words to get to the scenes I really want to write sldklafsj. I shall leave it here for now and maaaayyybe come back to it later!


End file.
